are nukes really necessary?

[stalin006]

building a nuke is like building a wonder in the ammount of resources used (ICBMs), but are they really for something? unless u like to nuke ur enemys.....u can use those shields to build 10 armor units.......woudnt it be great if an AI nuked u if u had half their nuke numbers? cold wars would be fun

 

[bengood22]

I doubt they are ever necessary but they are fun to use on the unsuspecting AI who attacks to try to destroy my spaceship. I guess their spy didn't see my 15 tactical nukes within radius of half of their cities.

 

[Turner]

I think ICBM's have a lot of strategic value. . . Nuke an enemy's cities, all his trades go away. Nuke his resources, now he has to clean the tiles then rebuild the roads to them. Find that last settler, nuke it, then take the last AI city. SoD's? Stack of Radioactive death, maybe.

I don't really like the spread of pollution when using a nuke, but on the other hand, it does need balance. I like nukes, make them whenever/whereever I can. At least it's not RL. . . just a computer sim.

 

[Woody]

I have only used them once, and that was just to see what the special effects looked like. I also have only been nuked once by the AI, out of all my cites they nuked a litle size 4 city in the tundra that was producing about 4 shields per turn and had two defenders in it, I could never figure that one out.

 

[dreadknought]

I have long felt that nukes were a unrealistic weapon in the game in that the widespread use of them in real life would destroy the world and as such you see them as a deterrent only. Though I will say that the way things are going that may change with the radical govts and all but I normally disable nukes in my games..........dread

 

[DiamondzAndGunz]

Originally posted by dreadknought
I have long felt that nukes were a unrealistic weapon in the game in that the widespread use of them in real life would destroy the world and as such you see them as a deterrent only.

Well, they do pretty much destroy life. Launch off enough of them, and you'll be looking at a desert planet in no time! By the time you launch off that many nukes, not much life will remain anyway .

Anyway, they're fun... but not neccesary much of the time. They're only really good as a last-ditch effort to capture a city after you've exhausted all other options, IMHO.

 

[Grey Fox]

I never use nukes, if I build them it's for the Power you get. Nothing else.

 

[Shillen]

I was facing a superpower on another continent so I nuked their 6 main cities. Certainly killed their ability to defend their land. I didn't notice much global warming at all even though they never bothered cleaning up the pollution. I found it quite helpful.

 

[alpha wolf 64]

they are good to use on heavy concentrations of enemy troops. also nuc rear roads/RR in order to slow the arrival of enemy reinforcements. It is a shame that there's no radiation eefect on entering units.

 

[Turner]

Radiation effect would be cool. . . shouldn't be that hard to do, as the 'illness' code is in place for jungles. Seems to me you copy it over, take out the jungle, put in radiation. . . it could work. Have a different pollution overlay for radation. . . .I like this. . .

 

[Carbon_Copy]

ICBMs make good prebuilds for spaceship parts. They're something that every city can build at the same time (unlike the palace), and even if you let the prebuild run over or don't end up needing it, well, then you have a nuclear weapon and you can just start another one up in the same city (unlike a solar plant, where if you can't get your tech in time, you either have to waste shields and clear out part of the bin, or you're stuck with a useless solar plant).

 

[dreadknought]

Originally posted by Turner_727
Radiation effect would be cool. . . shouldn't be that hard to do, as the 'illness' code is in place for jungles. Seems to me you copy it over, take out the jungle, put in radiation. . . it could work. Have a different pollution overlay for radation. . . .I like this. . .

That would be cool , wonder its not in any modded games that way?.........dread

 

[planetfall]

Nukes lose most value because: 1) too expensive to build, and 2) only kill citizens and don't eliminate city.

Main value is as deterrent not as offensive force.

== PF

 

[billindenver]

Originally posted by stalin006
building a nuke is like building a wonder in the ammount of resources used (ICBMs), but are they really for something? unless u like to nuke ur enemys.....u can use those shields to build 10 armor units.......woudnt it be great if an AI nuked u if u had half their nuke numbers? cold wars would be fun

I mostly use them for pre-builds of Wonders, but sometimes my timing is off so I end up with some. I also use them when I start getting tired of moving hundreds of units every turn.

I only use them for retaliation. An AI once just declared war on me out of the blue. First thing after the war message nukes started hitting my cities. You can believe I repaid them in kind.

on edit: Oh I forgot. Most of the time, I build 4-5 every game. After I win (or lose) I request to play a few more turns just to rain death on the civs that po'ed me during the game.

 

[Ronald]

In all my civ3 games, I have never built a nuke and I never felt the need to build one either

 

[bladester]

The best use of nukes is when you are behind in military and don't have the time to build it up.

If they attack then nuke the stacks, if you want to attack nuke the cities and taking them shouldn't be a problem.

It is problematic when there are other civs with nukes and they nuke you back for your first strike

 

[bladester]

Originally posted by billindenver

on edit: Oh I forgot. Most of the time, I build 4-5 every game. After I win (or lose) I request to play a few more turns just to rain death on the civs that po'ed me during the game.

I like to do that also. It looks cool to see their largest cities left in a useless state. I sometimes even go one step further and take those same cities after the nuke just for kicks

 

[Renata]

I nuked myself.

One of the first games I won I just had to build every unit and see what it it looks like and what its range is and such, whether I needed them or not. I built my first ICBM, hit the bombard button thingy, and wow, the whole world is in range! Cool!

Only then I couldn't figure out how to turn it off. There was nowhere I could click to disable the targeting, unlike with bombers or artillery, for example, where you can just click outside their range. I couldn't figure it out. Finally I clicked on the city containing the ICBM, figuring that square at least must be disabled.

Nope. Big mushroom cloud, lots of orange splotches, half-population city.

Oops.

Renata

 

[Strikefang]

I build them, but only use them in self-defense or if I really need to bring production in another civs city down. If I get nuked myself by another civ, that constitutes a reason for me to break out the ICBMs and do some damage. Otherwise, I do it the old fashioned way.

 

[Hygro]

Renata, just right click to cancel orders.